In 2010, a young Beengul Ali started working with the Islamic Women’s Association of Australia to help refugees settle and integrate into the community.
Now, she is being recognised as a Logan Legend for her work as the settlement engagement and transition services and community development manager at the Springwood-based association, helping refugees settle, find employment and integrate into Logan and Australia.
Ms Ali credits her win to the association team, noting that it takes many people to help achieve what she has been able to do in the community.
“It’s really not an award just for myself, it’s for the whole team that I represent. It really takes the work of a whole team to be able to achieve an outcome,” Ms Ali said.
“It was really my support team, my coordinators, our home care employees, bicultural workers, all doing the work in the community that enabled me to get that award.”
She says the work the association does in Logan is especially meaningful and important, with a close-knit community and a safe, strong ecosystem that she credits her team with building.
“The work that we do in Logan is very important. Logan is an area that has a very huge settlement population. The work that we do with them is we make sure that they have the supports in place, whether that is transportation, making sure that they have access to the council if they need anything.”
“[We] provide them the information, the education that they need to be able to be safe, and have a connection to their community and to all the service providers in the Logan area as well.”
Ms Ali’s work includes helping refugees get employment and she says helping people obtain a driver’s license is an important part of that.
“The work cannot be done on its own. We can’t do it by ourselves as an organisation.”
“It really takes a lot of effort from different organisations to be able to build that safe ecosystem, and part of that safe ecosystem is really working with the Department of Employment, Department of Education, Housing, Refugee Settlement, Community Development, and our hospitals.”
“The communities, once they arrive – families, individuals – they need to be able to find employment, and one of the biggest challenges they face is not having a driver’s license because a lot of jobs actually have that as a prerequisite.”
“So, if there was to be any support around funding to help individuals become more mobile, that would be great.”
Ms Ali said she was motivated by the the smiles of the refugees who have successfully integrated and found a home in Logan.
“We received funding and started a program under Skilling Queenslanders 4 Work that helped us get 78 people into employment, and I remember one of them coming up to me and saying, ‘Oh, you know, here is my first income as an employee’ in his bank account.”
“That really stood out to me, and to me, it was a very emotional moment. It is little things like this that matter and make our jobs very much worthwhile.”
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